Song Chengli, Appleyard Virginia, Murray Karen, Frank Tim, Sibbett Wilson, Cuschieri Alfred, Thompson Alastair
Department of Surgery and Molecular Oncology, University of Dundee, Scotland.
Int J Cancer. 2007 Sep 1;121(5):1055-8. doi: 10.1002/ijc.22808.
In human breast tumors, a 1-2 degrees C increase in skin surface temperature is usually observed at the periphery; it has been proposed that this change is due to the hypervascularity and increased blood flow resulting from tumor-associated angiogenesis. Here we tested the hypothesis that thermal imaging might represent a useful adjunctive technique in monitoring the growth dynamics of human tumor xenografts. Xenografts were established in immunocomprised nude mice using MDA-MB-231 or MCF7 breast cancer cells. We exploited the inherent noncontact and noninvasive advantages of infrared thermography to detect skin surface temperature changes. Continuous thermographic investigation was performed to detect and monitor tumor growth in vivo and high resolution digital images were analyzed to measure the tumor temperature dynamics. In contrast to the skin temperature increases associated with human breast cancer, a consistent temperature decrease was found in the xenograft mice. In one case, a smaller secondary tumor, otherwise undetectable, was clearly evident by thermal imaging. The tumors were cooler than the surrounding tissue with a maximum temperature reduction of 1.5 degrees C for MDA-MB-231 tumor and 3 degrees C for MCF7 tumors observed on day 14. In addition, the temperature of the xenograft tumors decreased progressively as they grew throughout the observation period. It was demonstrated that thermographic imaging could detect temperature changes as small as 0.1 degrees C on the skin surface at an early stage of tumor development. The findings of the study indicate that thermographic imaging might have considerable potential in monitoring human tumor xenografts and their response to anticancer drugs.
在人类乳腺肿瘤中，通常在肿瘤周边观察到皮肤表面温度升高1-2摄氏度；有人提出这种变化是由于肿瘤相关血管生成导致的血管过度增生和血流增加所致。在此，我们测试了热成像可能是监测人类肿瘤异种移植生长动态的一种有用辅助技术这一假设。使用MDA-MB-231或MCF7乳腺癌细胞在免疫缺陷裸鼠中建立异种移植模型。我们利用红外热成像固有的非接触和非侵入性优势来检测皮肤表面温度变化。进行连续热成像研究以检测和监测体内肿瘤生长，并分析高分辨率数字图像以测量肿瘤温度动态。与人类乳腺癌相关的皮肤温度升高相反，在异种移植小鼠中发现温度持续下降。在一个案例中，一个较小的继发性肿瘤，否则难以检测到，通过热成像清晰可见。肿瘤比周围组织温度低，在第14天观察到MDA-MB-231肿瘤的最大温度降低为1.5摄氏度，MCF7肿瘤为3摄氏度。此外，异种移植肿瘤的温度在整个观察期内随着生长而逐渐降低。结果表明，热成像在肿瘤发展早期能够检测到皮肤表面低至0.1摄氏度的温度变化。该研究结果表明，热成像在监测人类肿瘤异种移植及其对抗癌药物的反应方面可能具有相当大的潜力。
